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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009Economic Stimulus ProgramProject Update

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), signed into law February 17, 2009, included provisions for funding 'ready to go' transportation projects. To be included, these projects had to complete 2 milestones:

Milestone 1: Obligation of Funds - project design must be approved by MoDOT in Missouri or IDOT in Illinois and be ready to advertise for bids by March 2, 2010. All ARRA projects met this deadline.

Milestone 2: Award - before a project can begin construction, the project must receive concurrence from MoDOT or IDOT on the lowest responsive bidder. At this time IDOT and MoDOT staff are reviewing project bids. All ARRA funded projects should begin construction by the summer of 2010. All ARRA funded projects must be completed no later than February 2012.

In February, March and April of 2009, East-West Gateway’s Board of Directors approved a variety of projects to be financed with ARRA funding. Along with state and transit agencies, several projects were sponsored by local governments. Staff monitored the progress of 94 projects to be certain they could meet these milestones by the deadline. These projects have nearly $290 million in ARRA funds programmed.

Staff completed a preliminary review of the conference report on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and summarized the transportation provisions most relevant to the Council’s transportation decision-making role in the metropolitan region. Of major importance are the critical deadlines for “obligating” federal funds, including completing plans so that federal funds can officially be made available to the project. Within 21 days of the bill’s passage, Congress is requiring the U.S. Dept. of Transportation to complete the apportionment of funds. Staff is working to provide St. Louis-specific data on funding levels as soon as possible.

Listed below are documents, presentations and other information which staff compiled and which were discussed and acted upon by East-West Gateway’s Board of Directors at its February 2009 meeting. Additional information will be presented here as it becomes available.